[LustrousDragon]

I'm officially a book writer, you see. Here's the first chapter to this history-packed saga. It's a similar concept comparing to National Treasure, but deeper. The plot follows a young teenager who travels to the land of Egypt and discovers the truth behind his grandfather's death. Tell me what you think ^^

Prologue
The Mysterious Cipher Part One

Nothing could be seen in the morning sky as a young teenager cautiously walks through a long and elegant corridor with fascinating decorations on the wall with evidence of past presidents and the cause of their inaugurations, and the reason of their resignation. The boy wore an unbuttoned vest jacket, with a black shirt inside, and a blue jean. He overlooked the entire wall section between two six-paneled wooden doors. On the top of the doorknob was a set of numbers, and the same to the right door.

The boy tried many numbers before, not knowing how many digit the password is, or what number in what digit. But he did know one thing; under the doorknob of the left door was a crest of some sort. It resembles a sword crossing with a sword, but there’s a shield in the middle, redirecting the sword paths from impaling each other.

Suddenly, there were footsteps right behind him. It was frightening to the boy, acknowledging the carpet he stood on that placed before the left door was the only material that can block sound in the entire marble hall. If anyone were to sneak up on him, he should be able to hear it from about half a mile away. The boy turned around, eyes opened wide and readied to scream, only to see the household butler.

The butler was particularly sleepy over the past few days; a dark shade can be clearly seen under his eyes. The moment the boy found the dark shades laying beneath two red suns with a moon in each, he screamed.

“Hold it! Hold it! It’s me!” said the butler, trying to calm the boy down.

As soon as the boy settled down, he started to pant, with an innumerable number of short and quick sighs.

“Gandosk, what are you doing here?” asked the boy.

“Err, considering you to be the young master, that’s my line,” said Gandosk the butler.

“I-I was wondering, Gandosk,” the boy started. “If you could tell me,” he pointed toward the section of wall he was trying to get through.

The butler hesitated for a while, and then he smiled. “Come with me,” and he searched for a ring full of keys, dangling around in the pocket of his tuxedo. He closed up at the door, started pressing a combination of numbers, and a sound of an unlocking was heard inside the doorknob, and the numbers pulled back inside the metal frame.

As soon as the metal frame is pushed back deep inside, a keyhole suddenly locked itself in place where the frame had been, fitting for a golden key in the ring on Gandosk’s hand. As the butler inserted the key, he took it out of the ring, turned the key and pushed it inside. Then he grabbed the doorknob and opened the door.

The interior was absolutely elegant with nine chandeliers hung from the ceiling that gives off a bright shining light. The furniture is absolutely beautiful, made from the finest materials no other furniture in the world has. About nine antique wooden chairs were placed aside a long table with strange inscriptions on its sides.

On the walls were paintings of famous painters such as a portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler by Picasso, Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Judgement by Michelangelo, Der Blaue Reiter by Kadinsky, Miraculous Landing by Paul Klee and Wanderer above the Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich. Other gorgeous paintings were scattered across the wall throughout the entire room.

As the boy moved slowly behind the butler, he was impeccably caught in the magnificent sight of the significant signature works from some of the world’s most talented painters and artists. As the butler slowly moved to the back of the room, where a throne is sitting at the head, he saw the young master was looking endearingly at the frescoes, and smiled.

“What do you think?” said Gandosk.

“I think this is incredible,” replied the boy.

“There’s at least a hundred year of history on these walls.” The butler chuckled.

The boy swiftly went around the table and ended up on the other side of the table, his eyes gleaming with delight as the figures from the paintings seemed to jump out and grab his attention.

“Hurry, boy,” said Gandosk. He motioned the teenager to follow him and immediately went for the wall section behind the center chair that was probably made long before the Revolution War.

As soon as little dreamer arrived behind the throne, Gandosk placed his palm on the wall and the wall opened. A keyboard ran out with a small monitor on top. Gandosk started typed with one hand, jumping from letter to letter across the instrument.

“You know what?” asked Gandosk as he hit Enter. “On the other side of this wall is a place of memories for me and anyone who got into the master’s office.” He smiled calmly and patted the boy on the shoulder. “Why don’t you see for yourself?”

The keyboard ran back in, and the wall closed. Then the wall becomes a door and slid away from each other into the walls on either side like elevator doors, Gandosk took the boy and walked inside. The room was lined up with statues horizontally standing firm, looking gravely toward the entrance with their cold, marble eyes.

“Welcome,” said the butler, “to the Hall of Ancients.”

The boy was confused as he stood in a room with a butler facing nine statues built completely from marble and concrete with nine flags on a wall behind the statues and high on top, is a map with nine red marks locating where the flags are.

“This, my good son,” the butler walked closer to the first statue on the far left. “This is the room where history will be kept alive, and you are going to do it.”

The boy started on the first statue on the far right, his hand touching a small flag of the same kind behind the statue.

“Me?” asked the young master.

“Yes,” replied the butler.

“But how am I going to start?”

The butler hesitated and motioned the boy to move closer to the statue on the left, where he is. Gandosk moved his hands on the stone surface.

“You see this flag?” asked Gandosk. “Once you push it, the flag on the wall will light up.” Gandosk pointed at the flag behind the statue. “And it also means that your hunt starts.”

“You mean a treasure hunt?” asked the young boy as he steps closer.

“No, but close.”

“So what am I supposed to do?”

“This is what your Grandfather was on when he was young.” The butler chuckled.

“Can you tell me about it?”

“He was quite an adventurer then, with very much knowledge about the known world.” Gandosk began. “But that world has changed, boy. Your Grandfather, Nikolas, had only managed to unlock the clue to the first statue before he died. Now you must carry on the legacy that your grandfather left behind, and reveal to the world that history, under any circumstances, is not only a memory.”

************************************************** *********

So, tell me if I did a good job

[LustrousDragon]

Part Two:


Jake listened as Gandosk instructed, and he was interested to know that he was about to take on a serious challenge that can either give him fame and glory, or the darkness of death.

“In 1864, your Grandfather went on a trip to Cairo, planning to test out a clue that he got from the Museum of Antiques. The trip carried him into Thebes, as of his current mission in Egypt, to find the Black Book of the Dead. He was ambushed in Giza right in the middle of the desert, by none other than his nemesis’s thugs.”

“Who was this nemesis of Grandfather Nikolas?” asked the boy as his curiosity was at its peak.

“He is also on a hunt, but not a normal hunting for pieces of history,” said Gandosk, his facial expressions grew firm. “He was a treasure hunter.”

“Then did he go looking for treasure on the same places that Grandfather went, but barge in to get the goods first?”

“How did you know that?” questioned the butler.

“Well I read books,” answered the young master. “And mostly every book these days are like that.”

“You know too much, Drake Kingston,” Gandosk rubbed Jake’s head and chuckled.

“So did Grandfather die in their hands?”

“Yes.”

“I—“

The boy grew silent immediately after Gandosk spoke the single word. He always thought his family traits—his vast understanding and loving of Social Studies—were from a hero. Now he knew his Grandfather was nothing special after all, and so was his dad. The men in the family are either missing on hunts, or died during hunts. Now all that’s left is him, the only heir and pillar of strength for the mansion.

“But,” Gandosk begin at the edge of Drake’s despair. “I received the word from a friend of his in Cairo, and I also received the clue before his death.”

Jake’s eyes widened, and a smile appeared on his mouth.

“The clue is actually a series of letters,” said Gandosk. “It is a cipher. So far as I know, this kind of cipher is a very uncommon one these days, and even more…It requires a key.”

“May I have a look?” asked Drake.

Gandosk just smiled, and let the boy outside. He undid everything, and sealed the doorknob again, just to be sure no one else knew about the hunt.


The two traveled up the hall in the morning, took several turns, and came upon the master’s office.

“But you need a key, won’t you?” asked Drake as the butler was about to turn the doorknob.

“Normally, you do. In this case, you don’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“When the hunt starts, the hunter has to have an alternative escape route to wherever he is going to explore. Right now, I’m no hunter but I’ve got an alternate way to consider.”

“Why am I not surprised?”

Gandosk looked for some kind of displacement on the stone wall. He then pushed a stone, and the door unlocked itself, letting both inside. The room was entirely made of rare stones, such as cobalt, sapphires, rubies and emeralds. The window is cloaked by a silk and leather curtain, with crystal beads from different beaches that gleamed in the morning sun. In the middle was a large desk, with a parchment and several drawers, obvious from the width of the desk.

“There, see if you could figure it out,” said Gandosk and he pointed to the parchment on the desk.

Drake moved slowly to the antique desk, decorated with ancient markings of Egypt, such as the ankh, in the center of the front. On the desk was a papyrus piece of paper, probably about fifty years old. The butler scratched his chin with curiosity as Jake scrambled the carpet with quick movements and sharp stops at any place that he thought was suspicious.

“Very nice inspection, Drake,” said Gandosk, chuckling with his hand under his chin. “That parchment, as dated, is clearly a century old.”

“When did you receive this?” asked Drake as his feet moved as light as the wind, hovering on top of the green and red carpet.

“I received it a week after Nikolas’s death, along with this.” Gandosk gave Drake a small letter, containing very cursive Greek handwriting.

Drake moved his eyes swiftly down the paper headline-to-sincerely, his eyes gleamed with confusion.

“What language is this, Gandosk?” asked the boy as his eyebrows pushed against themselves.

“It’s encrypted, and it’s absolutely impossible to decode. The letters are small and the ending points are connected to the next letter.”

“Is this where your first attempt fails?” asked Drake.

The old butler’s chuckle faded quickly afterwards, and he grew silent. Most likely yes, Drake thought.

“I went to look for someone who would be able to translate, and that might help me decode the cipher on the papyrus parchment,” said the old butler quietly. “No one could, of course. I then took the cipher to other places instead, but same problem.”

Drake placed the letter on the desk next to the papyrus, his eyes moved to the paper next to it in an instant. His eyebrows pushed against themselves even more when he saw the cipher written in faded ink.

“Is this the second attempt you just told me about?”

“Yes, the cipher. It came with the letter at the same time. It was a disaster, actually,” said Gandosk as he moved closer toward the desk and sat on a wooden chair nearby. “The master’s friends were invited to a dinner for two hours in the lounge.”

“Yes, and?”

“We-Well, I was brewing a couple of Jasmine tea cups when the mail came in. It was real tragic, listen carefully now, Jake.” So Gandosk started to tell the boy of the ‘tragic’ incident a week ago.

“You weren’t there, but I can still imagine what your face would be if you were there in that mom—“

Then Gandosk started laughing out of nothing to be known. Jake started laughing too, for no reason either. Then suddenly Gandosk stopped, his face held firm, yet Drake still laughing. After a while, Drake realized he was being played like a donkey, he sewed his mouth close with an invisible titanium zipper.

“Lame jokes aside, let’s continue, yes?” Gandosk sighed and started again with the fascinating story seven days ago. “I found the papyrus and the letter in the mailbox right when they arrived at the parking on the sides of the mansion.”

“Did they come to the invitation dinner in limousines, then?”

“Of course they come to the invitation in limousines! Anyway, I was checking the mail when the guests hollered greetings across the front yard. I had to answer back, which takes a moment of my precious time, you see. I slowly bowed to greet them back, and they kept their eyes on me the entire time, so there was no way I can leave them looking at my ear, yes?”

Drake nodded every time the butler looks up during his storytelling.

“They started heading toward the main entrance, as of where I was standing, of course. I quickly shuffled the mail and shoved them into the mailbox, closed the open cap and entered the locking code 93751. Of course, I was aware of the eyes. I wasn’t able to control my eyes; I stared at their shoes until they reached the doorway. They wouldn’t look away, so my eyes were paralyzed to their vests. It’s rude to look a guest invited in the eye, you know that?”

There Gandosk looked up again, and Jake has to nod again. The butler made sure Drake was paying attention because each time he looks up; his eyes were looking for Jake’s nod.

“They greeted me, good gracious; it was saving me of my sour throat the other day from eating mangos. I have to put whatever out of my mind and welcome them into the house, like every other butler would do. I led them into the guestroom, which is a gargantuan, and served them the Jasmine tea I brewed a moment ago. I quickly told them that I’ll get the food, and ran into the kitchen.”

“So…That’s it?”

“Yeah,” Gandosk grinned.

“Waste of bloody time if you ask me,” said Drake as he took a look around the exterior of the desk again.

[LustrousDragon]

Part Three:


Gandosk stopped smiling; he stood up, and walked out the door. Jake turned around and he was about to ask where is the butler’s destination when Gandosk held up a hand to stop Drake. He smiled again, and headed down the hall. Drake continued to investigate, though. He kept a sharp eye for any markings on the outside, and then he looked on the top, nothing suspicious, on the bottom, nothing either. The drawers, however, were very obvious, as they are the only thing that can be withdrew from the desk.

Drake started to slide out each drawer slowly, and he heard little tick noises. Drake looked underneath the drawers, and he found little numbers inscribed into the wood. There are lines below the numbers, possibly the placement of the number on the wooden line.

“You noticed it?” asked a voice.

Drake looked up, and it was Gandosk at the door, holding a jar of some green liquid. Jake smiled calmly, and Gandosk started walking to the left side of the desk. He motioned Drake to hand him the cipher. He proceeds to place the paper with the cipher on the desk, and poured a fixed amount of the green liquid in the center. After a while, the green liquid started to take effect on the old papyrus.

“Amazing, Gandosk,” said Drake. “Since when did you know this?”

“Long time, but I never thought it would actually work,” replied Gandosk.

“What is that liquid?”

“It’s nothing, really,” answered the butler as he grinned.

“Is it?”

“Oh fine!” Gandosk gave up. “It’s something called the Green Remedy, a green chemical to reveal dried-up ink.” Gandosk grinned even wider.

Drake observed as the text cleared up, giving both a better view of the cipher written in a strong handwriting:

jbm ymst jbio icl cyv kizd ibigt se rozimu bo npz alni vzdoyt hugn cecepmmqeg jbm cquduh udzrgum wa bye byozvuahs ypqmihu

“My brain is rusted from everyday’s work, so I don’t have a clue what type of cipher this is,” said Gandosk, smiling weakly.

“Let’s do a quick elimination process, yes?” said Jake, imitating Gandosk.

Drake searched for a paper and pencil, soon he started scribbling down letters and numbers and variables and expressions. After exactly seven seconds, Drake slammed the pencil onto the paper on the desk. Panting heavily, he closed his eyes and sat himself onto a chair, then sighed deeply.

“Okay, professor, give me a lesson,” sighed Gandosk and folded his hands across his chest.

Drake held the paper up, read over and he smiled. The boy nodded at the butler as he picked up the pencil, placed it in front of the butler’s bloody eyes and started the speech.

“Here,” Drake pointed to the first cipher he thought of. “This one is the Caesar Cipher, using A = D, so ABCDEFG would be DEFGHI, so JBM from the cipher would be LEP, which means nothing.” Then Drake crossed out the Caesar Cipher, and he moved the pencil lower.

Gandosk was fascinated by the level of Drake’s knowledge of ciphers and how to use them. He paid absolutely close attention to the chart as Drake lectured him from one cipher to another.

“…We call the Ottendorf Cipher, but it is usually made up of numbers, and they are grouped into threes at once, so nope.”

Gandosk scratched his head and cocked his head at Drake.

Drake raised the paper from the desk and placed the pencil on the last cipher.

“Last but not least, the Vigenère Cipher, used by Giovan Battista Bellaso in 1553, widely known as ‘le chiffre indéchiffrable’, or “The Unbreakable Cipher. If you have the key and the table, it’s cake.”

Gandosk scratched his head and grinned. “And if you have neither key nor table?”

Drake shrugged. “Then we move on to oblivion,” Drake calmly replied.

[Neverarine]

Alright lets see, i a bunch of little errors, like words not being plural when they should and "tense" issues here and there but that not a big deal i little proof-reading can fix that easily the story flows nicely and has a good feel too it i like it

one few things though: why is the boy in the house? what is the butlers relation to the boy? what happened to his relatives?

these points ought to be answered while it was nice in the begining after the butler introduces himself a little setting info would be nice

[LustrousDragon]

...Have you ever read novels like Holes ? What about Where the Red Fern Grows ? Probably never heard of Hatchet ?

The errors, here we go, I will fix later on, since now I focus on writing, not improvisation. The butler is the housekeeper of the mansion, and the mansion belongs to Drake's grandfather, Nikolas Kingston.

[Neverarine]

yes i've read holes but i was just a little confusing when the awaited explaination never showed up

[LustrousDragon]

I intend to show that very clearly in this book. You might as well ignore the things in the beginning because the explainations are at the end. Here's the first chapter:

Chapter One
A Piece of History Part 1

“I was right,” said Drake Kingston.

A total of twelve years later, in San Francisco, California, standing in the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge was a young man with a binocular in his hands, looking at the cliff area that separates the roads and the bridge. He smiled, lowering the binoculars to take a look with his eyes. The man wore his usual black jacket unzipped with a jade shirt inside that reads "History rocks, History Rules, History Drools".

Drake turned around and called a taxi as it stopped short and its wheels shrieked on the road. The driver nailed the gas as Jake rushed in and slammed the door shut in an instant. He eased this time while locking his seat belt in place and gazed out the window.

Other cars zoomed past on the opposite lane to the left side and the sun glimmering on the water surface to the right. The car was like every other cab you see on the road, except the driver is extremely young, and he was wearing sunglasses with headphones on, listening to Yeah by Usher.

The guy was jamming the beat with his right hand while keeping his left hand taped itself onto the wooden wheel. Ludacris pursed his lips and lifted his left leg under the wheel to get his hands free. The guy started clapping—one of the weirdest things a cab driver would do—and he sang along while his left leg rotated the wheel.

“Hey,” called the driver. “What’s the destination, youngster?”

Drake started speaking gibberish until he got the question through his ear-drums. “Just take me to the other side, that’s all.”

“Yeah?” asked the driver. “The name’s Wallace Kruger. What should I call you by?”

“Kingston, Drake Kingston,” replied Jake as he glanced at the cliff on the other side of the bridge.

“Where are you from?” Wallace asked as he bobbed his head to the beat.

“The same place you’re driving in,” Drake calmly answered.

The driver looked out the window sarcastically. “Punk,” he scoffed.

Wallace took a sharp left and drove out of the bridge. He kept left until they were out of the bridge’s perimeter. He drove out of the road and onto a cliff above the foot of the bridge. Finally, Wallace nailed the brake and the car skidded to a sudden stop, sending both him and Drake to fling forward. Jake panted as his face was slapped flat against the driver’s seat.

“You always do this?” asked Drake as he regained balance. “’Cause if you do, then I can see why you’re idling until now.”

“Literally,” Wallace replied.

Stepping onto the edge of the cliff, Drake gazed down at the clear blue water. The reflection of the side of the cliff is on the water, and Jake saw nothing but himself. Wallace came over too, and he looked down at the water, and stared at some turtles under.

“Thyu,” mumbled Jake in Ancient Egyptian.

“…Sorry?” asked Wallace as he closed his eyes for the first time after two minutes of staring eye-to-eye with a turtle.

Drake hesitated for a while and walked back towards the car. He sat back inside and slammed the door shut, motioning Wallace to bring him back to the main road.

The driver returns to the car half a minute later while mouthing the second verse in Usher’s song. He opened the door, sat down in the seat and grinned.

“So, you mind starting the car?” asked Jake as he glanced at his watch. “I was hoping to take only a minute on the cliff for a view but you made it two, so I will pay you half. Fair?”

Wallace grinned again and he inserted the key into the slot. The guy bobbed his head up and down instantly after his hand turned the key. Wallace stared at Jake through the driver’s mirror for a long time. Drake stared back, and they officially started a staring contest.

After some time of no-blinking staring nonstop, Jake finally know what the guy wanted to know. “Why don’t you get us onto 101, and I’ll explain.”

Wallace was young, but he’s a kick-*** driver as far as Jake can see, no matter what the traffic is: bunch of busy-bodies minding their own businesses; some bulk ogres walking across the road; lines and lines of fans screaming and waving like there’s no tomorrow to a singer on a wide sidewalk.

“Wow,” Jake exclaimed. “Very enthusiastic people, I’d say.”

Wallace took several sharp turns before the cab finally came onto the free-way. Ludacris apparently had great timing when the cab was squished by two limousines on both sides. Right then, Drake saw Wallace’s face turning dull, and he also stopped singing.

The windows rolled down on both limos and a hand in a suit popped out holding pistols. The men inside are all dressed up as businessmen, wearing vests like they were going to a party. Before they could pull the trigger and possibly killed Drake, Wallace pushed the emergency button and nailed the brake.

“Get down!” yelled Wallace. He lowered his head and braced himself as the men in the limos shot at each other, missing the cab completely as their drivers didn’t notice Wallace stopped the car a bit sooner.

As soon as the limos are out of sight, Wallace quickly grinned and pushed emergency button again and nailed the gas. Drake was amazed to see how quick Wallace was because the line of cars was simultaneously honking at the cab.

“Uh…” Drake started, but then he grabs the seatbelt and buckles himself against the seat and start mumbling stuff in another language. Wallace’s eyes move like the wind as the scar sped past bundles and bundles of cars that are easing and enjoying the ride.

When he looked up, he saw Wallace humming while adjusting the driver’s mirror and deliberately handling the wheel with his left hand at the same time. Drake looked outside the windows and he saw the ocean just off the cliff.

“Take an exit,” Drake demanded. “Now,”

The man’s face was pretty serious, so in responding, Wallace took the nearby exit to a street and he slowly released the gas. It was July 4, so most cars had a flag planted. A Lexus even painted the entire exterior of the car to resemble the flag of the United States.

“The people in San Francisco may be busy, but they sure know how to celebrate national holidays, yes?” Wallace grinned at Drake through the driver’s mirror.

“I need to get to this address, and fast,” said Drake. “I need to speak with the butler before anything else.”

The man got out the car and gave Wallace the pay, plus interest for that shooting scenario. Wallace was pretty happy with it, too.

Drake told Wallace to go ahead, and he received Wallace’s card, just in case. Blooming flowers beautifully dancing in the sunlight as Drake glanced at the old mansion where the entire thing slapped him into reality as a kid. Gandosk was in the garden in the back tending to the biscuitroots. Jake knocked against the wooden six-paneled door. It’s pretty old, which explains why the mahogany used in building of the door is slightly rough.

“Wait me a moment!” Gandosk hollered as he finishes watering some lilies.

Drake knocked again, this time he heard some of Gandosk’s mumbling about some hideous stranger who can’t stand waiting for an old butler to open the stupid door. The butler grabbed the doorknob and turned it, pulling the door open and locked in a staring contest with Drake.

After five minutes, Drake gave up and made a quick 360-degrees turn. He made sure to close his eyes right when Gandosk is out of sight, and open them once he is in range again.

“Fine, I was certain I won’t beat you anyway,” Drake chuckled nervously.

Gandosk was still staring, so naturally Drake joins in for a second match. This time, however, Gandosk failed to take Drake head-on.

“For heaven’s sakes where have you been?”

Drake was left smiling to no one, out of nowhere. “You’re not happy to see me?” Drake asked.

“Why would I be?” answered the butler as he blinked. “Every time you say greetings to me, I know—“

“—it’s complicated,” both said together simultaneously.

Gandosk hesitated and grinned widely at the visitor. “See?” he said finally.

“With that out of the way, can I come in?”

“Oh.” Gandosk stepped out of the way so Drake can enter, then he closed the door behind him.

Inside was absolutely antique and elegant. Chairs and tables were decorated with ancient markings, the place was absolutely beautiful. Two chandeliers hung from the ceiling, and the fireplace was closed against the wall. The carpet covered the floor, with an impeccable drawing of Native American language.

“Is this Olmec?”

“Mayan, to be exact,”

“You really did a lot with the place since I came back and left—“

The man stopped at this point and he looked at Gandosk, who wandered around the couch and sat down. The old butler sighed deeply and raised his hands into the air.

“It’s been, what, five years,” said Gandosk. “It’s a blessing that you still remember this old piece of junk.”

“Don’t say that,” said Drake and he scratched his head. “Maybe you should say that.”

“So why are you here?” asked Gandosk as he stood up. “Don’t tell me it’s about the, uh, you know.”

Drake hesitated for a second. The room as filled with a tremendous silence that both of them can even hear the wind whistling outside. A few dandelions wiggled to the left and to the right.

[LustrousDragon]

Part Two:
“I’ll just step outside.” Drake pointed toward the garden in the courtyard and headed out of the living room. Gandosk stepped into the kitchen and boiled some tea. The old butler knew what Jake meant to say, but since it really hurt his memories, he decided not to speak of it anyway.

“It’s been a long time,” said Drake. “How have you been?”

“Never better, except the fear for monkeys is still lingering in this old body,” Gandosk called out from inside the kitchen.

Drake scrambled things a bit in a spare section of the garden and pulled out one of the old wooden cubes that usually stores hidden messages inside. Jake winced at Gandosk, who is chuckling nervously. Drake smashed the cube and found a note inside.

“It seems I can’t hide anything from you.”

“You still play these hide-a-key games?” Jake scoffed. But then he paid more attention once he knew what was on the note.

“It’s gibberish, Jake.”
“You knew? You knew this the entire time?”

On his failing attempt to fool Jake, Gandosk tried to think of a diversion, like his trip to France this summer.

“I—“

“—don’t have time,” Jake completed the sentence. “Yeah, I don’t have time.”

“It’s German,” said Gandosk. “No one around here knew how to say it, so of course no one can translate it.”

“Das Leben ein König, weit von Todeskampf und töten, Regel für fast einem Jahrzehnt raid seine Heilige Grab nie,” said Drake. “Easy.”

“Incredible, you speak German,” Gandosk chuckled and shrugged. “Why am I not surprised?”

“Just something I picked up from a friend of a friend who had a friend that told me about a friend who taught me some, just in case. Turned out I was right in asking him that, even though it cost me two tickets to the Lakers’ game.”

Drake walked past Gandosk, patting him on the shoulder, and head inside.

Inside the house, Jake suddenly remembered about something that he let slipped earlier. He went to check on the fireplace where he found something.

“You know, I couldn’t afford to send you away that day,” said Gandosk, sniffing. “Apologies, Jake.”

“I’m not a person who likes to go past a certain point,” Jake replied as he faced Gandosk out in the yard. “And that point was seven years ago.”

“What does that mean?” Gandosk asked Jake, referring to the German sentence he found on the coin under the garden.

“‘Living the life of a King, far from agony and killing, rule for nearly a decade, his sacred tomb never raid”, Jake recalled. “It’s a riddle.”

“‘Living the life of a King’ can simply mean a nobleman or a wealthy person,” said Gandosk. He walked back inside the house and locked the screen door behind him. “And by that of course, it’s someone important.”

Jake paced the room with his hand under his chin, thinking seriously. “Or it’s just simply a king.”

“Easily,” said Gandosk. “‘Far from agony and killing’ could only mean that he was protected and well treated. It also supports your thinking of a king.”

“True, but it can’t be that easy for a riddle,” said Jake as he kept pacing. “‘Rule for nearly a decade’…a king who ruled for a decade?”

Gandosk ran to the library and brought a collection of books about kings and rulers. He sat down and started opening four at a time, scanning for rulers that only reign for ten years or less. Jake stood against the wall and placed his hand as a pillow for his head.

“‘His sacred tomb never raid’ is a clue to help us decipher this riddle,” said Drake. “Gandosk, look for specific kings who are buried in tombs or caves.”

“That’s crazy,” said Gandosk. “Arabians, Egyptians, Frenchmen, Germans, Italians, Romans, Byzantines, all buried in tombs and caves.” Gandosk started taking down books from the pile and handed it to Drake. “Take a look at these, may help you.”

After a long time, something showed up between the pages. Gandosk found two Arabic letters in a book he was skimming. The butler went inside the library to find Drake. He was sleeping with about twenty books open around him, all saying the same thing:

Wetjeskhausehetepnetjeru Heqamaatsehetepnetjeru Wetjeskhauitefre Wetjeskhautjestawyim

“Drake, what in the world is this?” asked Gandosk, scratching Jake’s back to wake him up. “Doesn’t look like any normal text…Is it?”

The man woozily lifted his head and rubbed his left eye rapidly. He saw the phrase and started researching and flipping through the pages. Gandosk tried to get his attention but the teenager insisted on skimming every page of the entire two-thousand pages book about translating simplified Egyptian hieratic text into English.

“If I follow this guide,” said Drake when he found the right page. “Then the phrase is, ‘Who wears crowns and pleases the gods; Ruler of Truth, who pleases the gods; who wears the crowns of his father, Re; who wears crowns, and binds the two lands therein’.”

“Hold on,” said Gandosk as he listened to the hieratic script. “Look at what I have.” He showed Jake the Arabic script containing the two letters in Arabic: العمارنة مصر‎. Immediately Drake went for the index, where the important terms are listed.

“The first one means…‘Amarna.’” Drake closed four books and set them aside while took down two new ones. “The second one is simply ‘Egypt.’”

Gandosk grinned widely, knowing that the clue is in two books written by some Egyptian scholar. Drake looked over to Gandosk and chuckled happily.

“That’s it!” Gandosk exclaimed. “The riddle is solved, and we shall head to Egypt by next month, let me book two tickets.” The butler hastily walked out of the library, but stopped when he heard Jake.

“Book three tickets.”

That stopped Gandosk in his tracks like a kangaroo spot a predator peeking from a bush. “Three tickets, one for whom?”

“A friend that I trust who stopped bullets from impaling my brain, you got it.” Drake returned his attentions to the page again and quickly moved his finger.

Gandosk shrugged and went out the room and into the hallway, mumbling curses. Drake went back to the Arabic letters. He stood up and traveled to a wooden shelve and picked up a book that’s titled ‘Egyptian Historical Sites.’

Inside the pages were names and pictures of locations throughout Egypt’s geography. Some even uses hieroglyphs to make it interesting. Though Jake didn’t find it interesting because what he focuses on was finding Amarna.

“Memphis, Heliopolis, Cairo, Alexandria, Karnak…” Drake mumbled. He ran his fingers down from page to page as he kept searching for Amarna. “Deir el-Medina, Abu Simbel, Akhetaton, Giza, Aswan, Minya, Asyut...”

“Drake, Drake! Take a look!” Gandosk hollered as he ran into the library holding a journal. “This is from your Grandfather Nikolas; I found it under the sofa!” On the page was an entry from 1987 written in a cursive classic hand-writing. Drake suddenly became unaware of what he was doing in the book and immediately went for the journal.

May 25th, 1987
I found a clue left by workers of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings, Deir el-Medina. According to the hieroglyphs carved on a wall in the ruins, Akhenaton built a city dedicated to Aton, a god he created that shut down all the old gods and led to his resignation. The city was later renamed to Akhetaton, and now called Amarna.

Drake gasped. That’s what Amarna is today. That’s where Grandfather Nicholas was killed. He knew he had to travel there and see for himself.

“Drake, you know what this means?” asked Gandosk.
“Grandfather actually left us a clue…In Akhetaton, not Amarna.”


They got up early on the day they scheduled to fly to Egypt and visit the legendary Akhetaton. They, obviously, brought Wallace along because they think his driving skills might come in handy. Of course, Gandosk wasn’t too excited about having a driver along while they were actually traveling by camels.

On the plane, Drake brought along a giant book containing guides and tips for dealing with the locals. Gandosk was taking a nap and Wallace was snapping and mouthing words from Down by Jay Sean. Occasionally, Drake would glance over at Wallace and stare him into silence so he could focus.

At last, they arrived in Cairo. The climate was extremely hot and they grabbed two water bottles from the luggage immediately. Gandosk drank half and grabbed another. He drank so fast some other tourists laughed when they saw him.

[LustrousDragon]

Part Three:

“Gandosk! Stop it! Don’t drink too much and not so fast!” Drake whispered right into his ear while pretending to nod at the laughing bystanders. Wallace quickly blended in with the crowd. Pretty insane, but guess what? Wallace was laughing too.

The old butler noticed his mistake and lowered the water bottle. He muttered a quick ‘sorry’ to Drake and headed for the exit with two duffel bags containing the luggage. Wallace chuckled, glancing at Drake him. The driver just grinned and stormed for the door with Jake following behind.

They went into the streets of Cairo, bustling with people and merchants and furry monkeys. Gandosk had a fear of monkeys, so he grabbed Wallace in front for protection of what he calls ‘butler-killers’. Drake looked around, searching for a transportation that can get them to a hotel. A few blocks north were a stable with five camels and a merchant.

Drake told Wallace to keep up and look out for monkeys if he doesn’t want to get crushed by Gandosk and advanced toward the stable. Wallace sure took that advice seriously and went behind the line of merchants on the sidewalks, where he was sure to be vacant of monkeys.

Around him, a bunch of people passed him, speaking greetings and minding their own businesses. Some merchants were announcing prices to some noblemen. Two monkeys cornered Wallace and Gandosk, so Drake just went on.

“Excuse me, hello?” Drake hollered to the merchant, but he doesn’t seem to hear him. “Hey! You speak English? I don’t speak Arabic!” said Drake as he closes in on the merchant.

“Aasef?” asked the herdsman. “Anta…Ithnan?”

“W-What?” said Drake. “I don’t speak Arabic!”

“La ‘Afham!” said the merchant.

“Okay! Okay! That’s ‘Afham! ‘Afham!” said Drake.

The merchant smiled friendly and he pointed his hands to the camels. “Ithnan?” he asked. “La ‘Afham!” said Drake. “Forget it! For heaven’s sake! This is frigging ridiculous!”

He turned around to walk away, but then he caught glimpse of a lady smiling. She walked toward the merchant and engaged in a gibberish conversation. After a while, the merchant untied two camels and led them over to the lady.

“Go ahead,” she said in an American accent and walked away. Jake called after her and she turned back, smiling.

“I need three, lady! Three!” He held three fingers toward her and pointed to the camels. “That’s only one, and two more!”

The lady waved to the herdsman and said, “Thalatha.” Then she walked toward Drake, still smiling gently and handed the merchant several pieces. “Shokran,” she said to the herdsman. He returned the smile and bowed.

“Afwan,” he said and disappeared behind the curtains of the stable.

The lady nodded and stepped aside as Wallace slammed into Drake with Gandosk closely behind, running away from two baboons. The lady laughed as Jake fell to the ground. Wallace was saved when the lady held out a hand and allowed him to regain balance.

“You okay?” asked the lady when she gave out her hand to Drake. “No one hurt?”

“I’m okay,” Jake replied. “A little…woozy, but I’m fine.”

“Drake, I want to return to California! I want my ticket! I beg of you!” Gandosk pleaded on his knees.

“You, get up and you’re not going anywhere.” Drake pointed to Gandosk. “You, I told you to watch him.” Drake pointed to Wallace. “You, what’s your name; why are you here and can you help us?” He pointed to the lady.

“I didn’t agree to go on this—“said Gandosk.

“Why don’t you, be his shield—“said Wallace.

“Just tell me what you need—“said the lady.

All three started talking simultaneously out of the three questions Drake asked. Several seconds later, they were still talking, so he decided to move on. Though his thinking was not how it went. The lady stopped in her tracks. She waited for the three to turn back and pay attention. “Guys, hold on.” She ran to the stable and went back with the three camels.

Drake sighed. “Oh, jeez. I forgot about that.” He chuckled nervously as she handed him the rope that’s tied with the camel.

Wallace stepped forward and patted the leader on the shoulder. “Let’s go, partner.” Drake and Gandosk held the ropes and followed swiftly with the camels that stink like skunks.

“So, where to now?” asked Gandosk.

The lady turned back. “Somewhere to rest for the night, and we’ll head out in the morning.” Then she turned toward Drake and cocked her head to the Nile. “Where we go from then, you’ll have to tell us.” She pointed at Drake and cantered ahead. At length, she turned back and added, “My name’s Claire Verinus, by the way, learn it.”

[yui]

I wanna read the whole thing!!!!